Last week, Cheryl Canson attended a town hall meeting in Chula Vista with a poster board decorated with photos of her family.
Speaking to about 15 attendees — some of whom participated via Zoom — she said that two of her sons are in the San Diego County Jail, each suffering from mental health issues, and that she was concerned for their safety.
“People with mental illnesses are not heard and that’s why they end up in prison and jails,” Canson said. “I see their stories and their need for mental health treatment is not being adequately addressed. His disease is aggravated by the toxic environment.”
The town hall, co-hosted by the Racial Justice Coalition and the North County Equal Justice Coalition, provided an update on an ongoing lawsuit against San Diego County and the Sheriff’s Department, accusing both of failing to provide medical care. and proper mental health in the county jail, as well as various other causes of action.
San Diego County jails have come under scrutiny in recent years due to a high rate of deaths in custody: 185 in 15 years. The Union-Tribune 2019 series die behind bars revealed that San Diego’s jail death rate was the highest among any large county in the state.
Many of those deaths were the result of suicides and drug overdoses, and many of the people involved were dealing with mental illness. In some cases, the deaths were the result of homicides.
Following a lengthy investigation, the state auditor issued a report in February 2022 concluding that the Sheriff’s Department had repeatedly failed to prevent and respond to deaths.
Two people in sheriff’s custody have died in jail so far this year. An unprecedented 19 people died in sheriff’s custody last year, and a 20th person died hours after being released for medical reasons.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Diego, lists 14 plaintiffs—currently detained and formerly detained in county jails—and claims that, in addition to providing substandard health care inside jail facilities run by the sheriff’s department , the county also provided substandard living conditions, said Gay Crosthwait Grunfeld, one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers in the case.
The plaintiffs allege in the lawsuit that the county failed to provide reasonable accommodations to incarcerated persons with disabilities, and failed to ensure the safety and security of incarcerated persons. They also allege that “unnecessary and dangerous detention practices in San Diego County” disproportionately harm Black and Latino people, according to court documents.
“San Diego County residents are needlessly suffering and dying in county correctional facilities due to extraordinarily dangerous and deadly conditions, policies, and practices that have been allowed to persist for many years,” the lawsuit reads.
A third amended complaint was filed in 2022.
Grunfeld said he toured the San Diego Central Jail last week, hours before the town hall meeting. The attorney made the tour as part of the discovery process related to the lawsuit and it was approved by a magistrate judge in federal court.
“I would say my impression, having spent part of the day there, is that there really is a long, long way to go at that facility,” the attorney said during the town hall. “We did a tour with a captain, our expert and the county expert, and all I can say is that it is a very difficult environment.”
Earlier this month, newly elected Sheriff Kelly Martinez discussed changes the department has made in the last year to better meet the needs of people with mental illness in custody, including working to get them into conservatorships if necessary. necessary.
Martinez did not directly address the death of 46-year-old Lonnie Rupard, who was found unconscious in a filthy cell in downtown San Diego. But his comments came a day after the Office of the Medical Examiner ruled Rupard’s death a homicide, citing “ineffective” care of the mentally ill in jail as a factor.
The Medical Examiner’s Office said Rupard died of pneumonia, malnutrition and dehydration, accompanied by “neglected schizophrenia.”
Asked to comment on the lawsuit, Lt. Amber Baggs, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Department, reiterated that the department, under Martinez, continues to make improvements to the prison system.
“The Sheriff’s Department has been working diligently to implement changes to our detention facilities to ensure the safety, health, and well-being of those in our custody,” Baggs said in a statement.
He also said the Martinez administration has “embraced” the findings of the state audit.
Grunfeld said that when he toured the downtown jail on March 13, he saw inappropriate ways for inmates to call for help and that many of the intercom systems were broken. He also said the jail was still housing three inmates in upright bunks, a practice that has been reduced in many California prisons.
“A person in a wheelchair cannot get into a triple bunk, not even the bottom bunk,” Grunfeld said. “The facilities are not compliant (with the American Disabilities Act) and we are going to ask the court to start doing it…”.
“The county and the Sheriff’s Department are burying their heads in the sand and continue to deflect responsibility, fighting our lawsuit, making big promises without any timeline, deadline, or concrete action,” the attorney continued. “The mistreatment of people in county jails is unconstitutional, illegal and immoral.”
Baggs acknowledged that the San Diego County facility had triple bunk beds, but they were being phased out. He added that Martinez had passed a unit of the Americans with Disabilities Act to address problems within local jails.
Sheriff’s deputies, medical and mental health professionals, a compliance manager and a facilities project manager will work to ensure that inmates with disabilities are treated equally, Baggs said.
“To create this much-needed unit, existing positions in the Sheriff’s budget have been modified. It is the Sheriff’s goal to have this new unit operational by the beginning of the fall of 2023,” the lieutenant said in the statement.
In addition, the Sheriff’s Department has put in place body cameras for corrections officers and said the county is working to improve communication and wireless systems inside jails. Body cameras are currently available to officers at two of the six county jails.
Lon Chhay, who spent 22 years of his life in and out of the San Diego court system, told the town hall meeting that beatings and mistreatment were a regular part of his life.
“I was in pods with people with mental health issues, and they were put in there without any supervision,” Chhay said. “And you could tell, just by looking, that this person doesn’t belong in this module.”
Baggs said the Sheriff’s Department is testing a biometric scanner in jails that will determine when a person is in medical danger. He added that multi-disciplinary groups carry out one-on-one wellness checks on individuals in jails who are considered “most vulnerable.”
These checks are conducted twice a week at the George Bailey Detention Center in Otay Mesa and three times a week at the Central Jail in downtown San Diego. They are also held once a week at the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Center in Santee and the Vista Detention Center.
During the town hall, Sundee Weddle told how her son, Saxon Rodriguez, 22, “survived” Central Jail the first time. The second time he was incarcerated, he was found unresponsive in his cell on July 20, 2021, four days after he was arrested.
Rodriguez died of what was later determined to be a fentanyl and methamphetamine overdose.
Last year, the independent review board that oversees the Sheriff’s Department blamed the entire department for failing to keep illegal drugs out of its jails.
Although investigators were unable to determine exactly how the drugs entered the jail, “evidence indicates that sworn (Sheriff’s Department) and/or non-sworn staff…did not prevent illicit drugs from entering the facility.” of detention,” the review board said.
The Sheriff’s Department has recently installed dispensers of naloxone, also known by the trade name Narcan, in jails. The drug is used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
Baggs said the department is employing various methods to prevent drugs from entering jails, including initiating an enhanced intake process to test for drug use, and introducing new toilets and large search mirrors to prevent contraband is hidden in bathrooms or under benches during the search.
The department continues to introduce other changes, but some families and advocates for incarcerated people say the changes haven’t come soon enough.
“There are still a lot of overdoses, but I am grateful that they have allowed inmates access to the Narcan,” Weddle said. “I wish I had been available when (my son) was there.”
The hearing of the case is scheduled for April 14 in the United States District Court.
